Looking To Belong (A Runt's Story)

Chapter 39

I leaned against a tree and silently fumed. It was doubtful that anyone realized I was leaning against a tree just off to the side of the training field. Will was training an older teenager on how to correct his form while going through a certain fighting move, and was he concentrating hard enough that he was unaware of my mood.

It was to his credit that he was also mostly unaware of the blonde trying to flirt with him. He had noticed a couple of her attempts, but was completely uninterested and ignored her. It was the only mollifying thing in this situation.

I couldn't exactly act like the jealous mate that I was, since I was unable to win a fight with anyone here. No amount of training could correct that either; as a runt, my speed, strength, and stamina would never be equal to a normal wolf. Sure, I had a few tricks up my sleeves in case I got cornered by unpleasant rogues, but those generally involved serious injuries or possibly even lethal results.

Seriously harming a packmate out of jealousy, when my own mate was ignoring the perpetrator, was something that couldn't even be considered. I didn't really want her dead; I just wanted her to leave my mate alone. Why couldn't she go flirt with Evan? He didn't have a mate yet, and as an Enforcer, his odds were extremely low of ever finding her.

I took a deep breath to control the jealousy and gave a barely audible low whistle of greeting to the one hiding in the tree next to me. Even in my distraction, the faint whiff of pine and alder had not gone unnoticed. Even if my nose hadn't told me of his presence, my senses had been tracking him for some time now as he circled closer and closer. I didn't remove my eyes from Will as I sensed Jisk drop out of the tree to lean against a tree trunk barely out of my reach.

He regarded the fighters silently for a while before speaking quietly, "Do I have to give him a lecture on the exclusivity of the mate bond?"

It didn't surprise me that he knew who my mate was. He had crossed this pack's territory dozens of times that I knew of, and I didn't go that far from the pack house. He probably knew each fighter on sight and had an idea of their skills by now.

"Not really," I relied, with a deep sigh. "His eyes have never wandered, and I couldn't have wished for a better mate. That blonde is getting on my nerves though. I didn't realize what an evil beast jealousy is. I have no idea how Will managed to control himself when we first met."

He chuckled lightly, although I could sense his serious mood beneath. He knew I could sense it and didn't care in the least. There had been a few times where he had asked me to dig deep into his mind to determine exactly what his deepest feelings were on a controversial subject. I hadn't managed to dodge both Will and Ruby to get far enough out into the forest to say hello the few times I had sensed him nearby, and he was undoubtedly aware of it.

I also knew that his appearance wasn't a light thing since anyone who looked this way would be able to see him at the moment. He preferred to remain unseen, but his irritation was coming through his surface thoughts clearly. I knew very well that he considered the mate bond a sacred thing.

The fastest way to anger him was for someone to try and infringe on a mate bond. For someone to try and entice someone who was already mated would make him somewhat mad, something like this blonde was doing. If someone who was already mated tried flirting with anyone other than their mate, he got livid and generally tried to take a chunk out of the offender. And heaven help the person who was contemplating rejection or mentioning rejection as a possibility within his hearing.

He crossed his arms and asked me in a loud voice, "Exactly how long is your mate going to let the blonde flirt with him before telling her off?" His eyes never left the training field.